Driving Forces for m-commerce Success

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To help observe the maturity of the various value chain components of m-commerce outlined in Table 3, and to understand where further development must occur, it is informative to consider the inter-corporate linkages of m-commerce. This can be done according to corporate contributions to required infrastructure, associated support services, and delivery of these services to customers. To this end, we have adapted the well-known University of Texas e-commerce model of Internet Economy Indicators (Whinston et al, 2001). In their model, there are four layers (Internet infrastructure, Internet applications infrastructure, Internet intermediary, and Internet commerce). M-commerce differs significantly from e-commerce, as we have pointed out, although there is some overlap in the functional nature of both. In our m-commerce value chain model, we also propose four layers:

Communications Infrastructure,
Applications Infrastructure,
M-commerce Intermediary, and
Mobile Commerce.

Reading from the top of Table 3, the Communications Infrastructure layer includes equipment suppliers and network operators. The Applications Infrastructure includes service hosting, portal providers, and software companies that develop related software products and platforms. The M-commerce Intermediary layer includes billing facilitators, content providers, brokers, and market makers. Finally, the Mobile Commerce layer includes application providers that sell goods and services to customers.

The interconnected and interdependent nature of these four layers of the value chain cannot be over-emphasized. Thus evolution in one layer will affect the other layers. For example, advances in the communications infrastructure, such as the widespread implementation of G3, will support new developments such as wireless video and bring more potential retail applications of mobile commerce that may be both time and location sensitive. But services to support these will require further evolution in both applications infrastructure and intermediaries.
4.3 Active Customer Demand

What is missing from m-commerce is compelling content that will make people want to use their handhelds to buy something. Consumers remain unconvinced about the wireless Web and user apathy towards wireless data services is believed to be one of the main factors delaying m-commerce implementation (Kelly, 2001). We propose that it is current narrowly-focused m-commerce applications (mainly on mobile Web systems) but not the fundamental nature of m-commerce, that frustrates consumers. The great advantage to people of eliminating fixed attachments to physical space, allows more strategic, creative, and flexible decisions and actually getting things accomplished (Kalakota and Whinston, 1996). Instead of waiting for killer applications to stimulate passive consumers, we propose that fundamental consumer demand is the active force that can improve the chance of m-commerce success.

The success of the cell phone industry has already proved the significance of this active driving force. Today there are an estimated 115 million cellular phone users in the U.S. (Schooler, 2001). Market growth has been quite encouraging. Compared to the U.S, in Asia and Europe mobile telephony adoption is even more advanced (Herman, 2000). In Japan, the number of cell-phone users has already reached 66 million (Kunii, 2001). 64% of the people in Finland have a mobile phone, while the rate in Sweden stands at 55.2% (Kruger, 2000). In China, the enthusiasm for mobile phones has exceeded all forecasts, and the mobile subscriber base will probably reach 250 to 300 million in 2005, up from 68 million in 2000 (Sliwa, 2001). Recently, the population of cell phone users in China has reached 135 million, making it the world leader.

Beyond enjoying the basic service of mobile verbal communication, consumers are beginning to demand much more from their cell phones. Two-thirds of Japan’s cell-phone users subscribe to one of many mobile data services offered by the country’s three cellular operators. Even though the actual demands vary according to different geographical locations and demographics, consumers have played a decisive role in the success or failure of m-commerce efforts. Most potential m-commerce successes will arise from consumer demand for additional value in their daily lives, and there is unlikely to be a single killer application that can spark m-commerce success. What consumers need is an adaptable package that can accommodate various m-commerce services (personalized location-specific and time-sensitive). It is the variety of cost justification criteria adopted by consumers (in turn determined by demographics, regional cultures, current fashions, etc.) that fundamentally affect their decisions concerning specific m-commerce services. According to a Nokia research study that focused on m-commerce services in the U.K., South Korea, Italy, USA, Brazil and Finland, the proportion of respondents that would carry out a transaction of more than U.S. $25 using a mobile device, ranged from 24 to 54 percent (Dezoysa, 2001-1). Also, 90 per cent of all end-users surveyed that would consider using m-commerce, either now or some time in the future, would be willing to pay for its use. However, this is on the assumption that the mobile device is free. It is still uncertain whether the cost of next generation phones can be subsidized by operators and, if they are not, how the added cost of paying over $150 for a mobile phone might well affect this figure (Dezoysa, 2001-1).
DoCoMo recently sold about 10,000 videophones at a U.S. $500 price, with service limited to Tokyo (Kunii, 2001). In Europe, the cost of providing advanced handhelds equipped with high tech features is also likely to be in the neighborhood of $500 or more (Carrigan, 2001). For the additional cost of high tech handhelds to be acceptable, consumers will expect to be able to access many additional services that are of value to them. In Europe, where mobile users are not charged for incoming calls, consumers can thus not only gain access to wireless services wherever there is a network presence but also keep tabs on time-critical information such as stock market reports or other urgent messages (Barnett et al. 2000). Such consumers are more likely to take advantage of these services.
The focus in m-commerce needs to be on delivering simple, time-sensitive, and compelling applications that do not require a lot of training. If it takes too much time (e.g. more than 5 minutes) to conduct an m-commerce transaction, it might as well be done with a PC. One example is notification about tickets to entertainment and sporting events. A consumer can contact a ticketing agency, such as TicketMaster, to request notification of availability of tickets for sale for an upcoming concert. When tickets meeting the consumer’s criteria become available, TicketMaster sends a message to the consumer’s wireless device and asks if the consumer wants to buy them or not. This is a simple yes-or-no transaction (Lucas, 2001). Any applications that require consumers to input much information will not work, because of keyboard limitations. For example, a visit to Barnes & Noble’s WAP site to enter credit card number, address, and shipping information requires more than 100 keystrokes (Swartz, 2001-2).
4.4 Synergy of three driving forces

The success of m-commerce relies on the synergy of three driving forces: technology innovation, value chain evolution and active customer demand. Technology innovation provides more useful functions with lower prices, creating value for customers and stimulating customer demand. Technology innovation also demands high-level collaboration through the value chain. Active customer demand provides rich revenue sources for the value chain and stimulates technology innovation and the development of new applications. Value chain evolution ensures the collaboration of multiple parties through appropriate profit sharing, which in turn supports more technology innovation. Through positive interaction loops the three driving forces will eventually contribute to the success of m-commerce. This synergy is graphically illustrated in Figure 1.

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Driving Forces for m-commerce Success

Figure 1. The synergy of three driving forces for m-commerce success